Hello everyone, I am Minseop Kim. I entered POSTECH in 2024, and I am currently an applicant for the Department of Life Sciences. One-third of 2025 has already passed, and it’s been two months since the start of the semester. As I watch Postechians prepare for the midterm exams, I realize that time goes by very quickly.

Why does time go by so fast? I think it’s probably because you are working hard on something. The process of learning something new and looking for something you’re curious about requires quite a lot of enthusiasm. I also recently had to prepare a presentation in a class, but when I was working on it passionately, a whole week just flew by. This is something that not only I but also all of you who will become great scientists in the future will experience a lot, right?

It is so good to work hard on something, but working hard inevitably comes with hardships and adversity. Even if time goes by quickly, it should not be full of hardship, right? That’s why it is also important to know how to manage stress and enjoy the journey. I’m going to take this opportunity to talk about how to relieve stress and enjoy life.

First, I travel regularly. Recently, I went to Tokyo before the semester started. I have been to Tower Records in Tokyo, and they sell a lot of albums and LPs from J-pop to K-pop, indie to pop. I was able to relieve my daily stress by having new experiences in Japan that I could not have had in Korea. I think this is the true meaning of travel. It’s about getting out of your daily life and having different experiences, eating delicious food, enjoying new cultures, and truly finding yourself. In this respect, I think traveling is very meaningful. POSTECH students also travel both abroad and domestically a lot. In my experience, the happiness of travel is not short-lived. Once you plan a trip, you will live your life hard every day for that happy trip. In other words, it becomes one of the many driving forces to live your daily life. The same is true after traveling. I feel very sad after traveling. But this feeling of regret leads me to plan another trip for my next daily life. What do you think? Do you agree with me? It will be of great help to ventilate your life by traveling regularly or during each vacations.

The second is to live a diverse cultural life. There are so many things to enjoy these days. It could be a play or a musical, or a concert by a famous singer. Or it would be easy to watch a movie. I love going to concerts, among them. I am going to see Coldplay’s concert, a famous British pop band, this April! What kind of concerts have you been to? In my opinion, the biggest feature of a concert is that you can get a lot of energy that you don’t normally feel. When we dance and sing together, it feels like we are relieved of all the stress that we have accumulated. I think if you put some special experiences into your daily life, you will have fun and will be able to work and study hard again in your daily life.

I create these special experiences by myself, enjoy them, and release my stress. How do you release your stress? I think I have my own hobby, and I am able to release my stress through various experiences. Relieving stress becomes the driving force to get rid of everyday negative emotions and live a strong life again. I will support Postechians so that they can spend another semester full and meaningful.